Monday, December 9, 2013

Monday Munchies

*What a weekend it was for the Red River Valley. The UND men's hockey team gets its first sweep of the season at Western Michigan. The UND men's basketball team plays at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse while the women's team takes Minnesota to the wire. The biggest news coming from Fargo where after the Bison crushed Furham, it leaked out that head coach Craig Bohl is leaving for Wyoming.

*This was news that shocked all of the FCS world, not just NDSU fans. We knew the move was coming. When and to where were the question marks. Saturday night, we found those out.

*Although Wyoming doesn't sound "sexy" on paper, the chance to coach at an FBS school and have the CHANCE to play in a BCS game, is worth the move for Bohl. Yes, winning NC after NC at an FCS school is great. But there comes a time in a coaches career, as we've time and time again, where they have to move on.

*Bohl has done so much for the program, NDSU, and Fargo. Did anyone ever see GameDay coming to Fargo? You would be lying to yourself if you said yes. Did anyone see NDSU going back to back at the FCS level, say 15 years ago. No. A lot of the Bison success, if not all of it, can be attributed to Bohl.

*It is too bad that the story leaked out on social media and not officially by NDSU. That is the age we live in, however. Bison fans should not be bitter by that OR THE TIMING of the move. As Gene Taylor said Sunday in his press conference, there is NO GOOD TIMING for something like this. Yes, it puts the Bison in a unique position as they go for their third straight title, in which Bohl will coach the rest of the way.

*Yes, I believe it will be a distraction. No, I don't think it will impact the team and their pursuit for a third straight title. We saw today, for example, with Bohl not making his weekly press conference, that it is already having some impact on the daily schedule. I believe this senior class is mature enough to get past the distractions and win it all in Frisco.

*Personally, I wish the best for anyone who served on the Solich staff at Nebraska. Bohl was fired as the defensive coordinator when the Husker program started to slip. Although the move seemed right at the time, Nebraska fans might look back and wonder if it was indeed the right move.

*While it was a noisy weekend in Fargo, literally (take a look of the decibel level graphic @NDSUAthletics tweeted out of the FargoDome on Saturday) all was quiet in Grand Forks.

*The men's and women's hockey teams were out of town as were the basketball teams. It was a big weekend for the men's hockey team as it finally got its first sweep of the year. If UND can take care of business at home this weekend against Northern Michigan, the team will have a ton of momentum going into the break. Momentum they need going into the second half of the schedule. It was nice to see UND get some scoring from the "young guns" including NCHC rookie of the week, Luke Johnson. The young players on the team are going to be the difference makers in whether this team can make another push at a Frozen Four. There is concern with the team even making REGIONALS but I think they get in, and as we all know, anything can happen.

*It is nice to see a UND goalie put together two nice games in a row. TRF native Zane Gothberg had a monster save to finish off the sweep and put the exclamation point on a good weekend. Let's see if those games can string into weekends.

*It was another tough test for the men's basketball team Saturday night in front of a national audience on FoxSports1. Although Butler won handily, I think UND proved some things. The biggest being they don't give up. I thought UND played decent in the half court which is not their game at all. Knowing that, I thought Brian Jones would throw on the press throughout. It wasn't until the second half when UND really tried to speed up the game by slapping on the press.

*North Dakota needs to learn a few things-How to get stops when they need them and how to get scoring when Troy Huff isn't dropping 30.

*Although it wasn't the result UND fans wanted to see, all these tough games do is help UND in March.

*It was a tough one to grasp for the UND women's basketball team who had rival Minnesota on the ropes at their house. It shows that Travis Brewster's squad can play with the "big teams" but it is hard to win when you struggle as much as the team did in the second half.

*The Heisman finalists were announced this afternoon and there are six finalists, the most candidates since 1994. Having a vote, I'm glad that all three on my list will be going to New York City.